40-year sentence for murder in gang argument

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A 34-year-old Pierce County man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder in the shooting death of a rival gang member during an argument over whose gang was better.

The News Tribune reports (http://is.gd/w4pgnk ) that William Horton Jr. of Lakewood was sentenced Friday. A jury convicted him last month of first-degree murder in the October 2012 death of Charles Pitts.

Court records show the two were visiting a mutual friend's home when they got into a heated discussion over whose gang was better. The pair began "slap-boxing" before Horton pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and shot the 29-year-old Pitts twice.